Podcast: Clyde Wray Places Saint John’s Black Leaders At Centre Stage
In the mid-19th century, Cornelius Sparrow owned a barbershop and a dining saloon in uptown Saint John. He was an escaped slave from Virginia.
Georgina Whetsel operated an ice-cutting business and was believed to be the richest black woman in North America when she sold it at beginning of the 20th century.
Abraham Beverley Walker was the first black man to attend the Saint John law school and the first black Canadian-born lawyer.
Lena O’Ree worked as a housekeeper at the Admiral Beatty Hotel in Saint John in 1950s. At the time even black celebrities like Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald had to use the back door. O’Ree decided to take a stand and walked through the front door.
These people were successful entrepreneurs and community leaders, trailblazers in the face of systemic racism.
On this week’s Huddle “Home Office” podcast, host Mark Leger talks to local poet and playwright Clyde Wray, who believed their stories needed to be told; that they take their rightful places as historical figures we admire and emulate.
It bothered him that a series of murals in the city centre featured eight historical figures – all white. So he wrote and produced, We Were Here – the stories of eight black Canadians brought to life on the stage in partnership with the Saint John Theatre Company.
The virtual production is being live-streamed on the last weekend of Black History Month.
Listen to Mark’s conversation with Clyde in the player above, or on your preferred podcast platform.